The Income and Poverty in the United States report for 2016, released by the U.S. Census Bureau Tuesday, shows that the Yellowhammer State's poverty rate has dropped from 18.2 percent over 2013-2014 to 16.8 percent in 2015-2016, going by two year averages.

Despite progress, Alabama ranks among one of the poorest states in country and is still above the national average of 12.7 percent, according to the report. The national average decreased from 14.8 percent in 2013-2014.

"Alabama, like the rest of the U.S., has had a slight reduction in poverty in the last few years due to the improving economy, but the fact remains both the state and the nation still have higher poverty than before the recession," said Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, a New York-based non-profit advocacy group that aims to end domestic hunger. "We are the only industrialized Western nation that has this massive poverty problem, and the time is long overdue to solve it."

Alabama ranks in the bottom 10 overall for poverty, ahead of other southern states such as Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, which have poverty rates of 20.1, 18.8 and 19.4 percent, respectively.

More than 40.6 million people in the United States were living in poverty last year, 2.5 million fewer than in 2015 and 6.0 million fewer than in 2014, the Census said.

However, poverty on a national level has still not recovered to pre-recession levels. In 2007, the poverty rate was 12.5 percent. Alabama's poverty level pre-recession was 16.6 percent.

The census report also showed that median incomes across the country reached a record high of $59,000 in 2016, surpassing the previous high of $58,665 in 1999 when the country enjoyed a record 10-year economic expansion.

"Real median household income has finally completed its nine-year slog of digging out of the ditch," IHS Markit Executive Director Chris Christopher said told Reuters.